In another set of circumstances, "suiting up" could have entailed something entirely different.
For example, were the trio properly prepared for what awaited them, suiting up would have consisted of a drawn-out montage where body armour was equipped, matte-black carapaces covering dull kevlar. Weapons capable of massacring armies would have been assembled, ammo would have been stuffed into spare pouches, bandoleers would have swung heavily with grenades and throwing knives.
However, in the circumstances in which they found themselves, suiting up consisted of considering what they might need, pooling what money they had in their pockets, and finding that their total came to nineteen dollars and seventeen cents.
Kevlar would probably be a little beyond their means.
"We'll take what there might be in the shops," said Coraline, dividing the money into roughly equal portions. They stood at the head of a long avenue, along which dozens of different small stores crowded out both sides. "Remember, we've each got to get at least some kind of flashlight. We'll need something to see by. We'll each need something we can defend ourselves with. If you'll have anything left over, then get whatever seems sensible. Choose carefully, we're on a kind of limited budget here."
"Are you sure there's nothing else we'll need?" said Wybie.
"Nothing we can get, at least." Coraline sighed. "If I'd known this was coming, I'd have asked Miss Spink and Miss Forcible for another adder stone. Finding the souls could be tough without one."
"You said they'd be about the size and shape of a ping-pong ball." Wybie knew better than to question why exactly they needed an adder stone.
"Maybe a bit bigger. If we're lucky, they'll be a lot smaller, since there's three hundred of them. That reminds me. Maria, you get something we can hold them in. A bag or rucksack, it doesn't matter, so long as it can hold a lot." Coraline checked her watch on her wrist, forgetting that it was broken beyond repair. "We'll meet back here in … screw it, we'll just meet back here once we're finished shopping. All that clear?"
"Crystal."
"Then let's roll."
One three-way shopping expedition later, the three of them re-met.
"I got a torch with batteries. And I got a Louisville Slugger," said Coraline, opening her plastic bag to reveal a cheap flashlight lying in the bottom, and pulled out thirty inches of solid ash, entwined with curving writing and symbols. She grasped the baseball bat with one hand by the cloth grip, and swung it to test for balance and weight.
"That's good," said Wybie admiringly, looking over the bat. He had his hands clasped behind his back. "What did you get, Maria?"
Maria pulled the large black hemp bag she'd gotten off her shoulder and rummaged through it. "A flashlight," she said shyly, proffering it for inspection. "And a box knife." She pulled out the little plastic-handled knife, the small blade of which glinted silver in the sunlight.
"You'll have to get real close to use that," said Coraline dubiously.
"It was all I could get after the bag and torch. If we're lucky, I won't have to use it."
"Oh, certainly. And if we're lucky, a professional wizard will come teleporting out of nowhere and solve all our problems." She sighed. "Never mind. If it was all you could get, it was all you could get. What did you get, Wybie?"
"Well," he started, smiling deviously while taking a step forward, keeping his hands behind his back. "I thought about what to get. And while I was getting my flashlight, I realised that, if this problem's as big as the cats say, then it'll need a pretty unique solution. So, I was thinking what that might be, when I saw this lying in the street," He flourished one hand. Coraline looked at what nestled inside the glove.
"A lighter?" she said, apprehensive.
"Not just a lighter, a nearly-full lighter. And that gave me the idea to go into another store, and I got this." His other hand came forward, holding an aerosol can.
Coraline said, without inflection, "What."
"It's simple, really. You see, the spray from an aerosol can is flammable. When you place a naked flame in front of..."
"Yes, yes, I know what happens when you do that. The problem is that what it does is stupid."
"Why is it stupid? I'd say having a short-range flamethrower on our side would be quite a big help."
"Wybie, those things don't work like they do in the movies. When you put a flame next to an aerosol spray, what happens is that the fire comes out too close to the can, and then you get an explosion."
"Actually, they can work, if you use them carefully. It's all about how you position the two, what angles you hold them at, what distance you hold them apart. If you do all these correctly, then you can make it work."
"Sure it'll work. Right up until it doesn't, and then what happens is that you're left holding a point-blank firebomb."
"Jonesy? Take a breath. You're emphasising everything."
"I am not emphasising every..." Coraline stopped, and took a breath. "That doesn't stop it being stupid."
"Each to their own," Wybie responded cheerfully.
Coraline looked at her baseball bat, and then at Maria's box knife, and then back at Wybie's aerosol and lighter. She drew up a hand and slowly kneaded her forehead.
"If the Czarina's the type who can die laughing, then maybe, just maybe, we'll have a chance," she said. "As it is, you two had better stay behind me."
"That's..." started Wybie.
"Oh no, on second thought. You're standing well in front of us with that thing, Why-were-you-born."
"Well, I thought it was a good idea," Wybie muttered to himself.
"Where to now?" asked Maria. "The Merch Mart?"
"Yeah. Take us to where in the building you found the little door. We'll go through it, end up in the Czarina's Other World, and we'll just take it from there. If it's just the Czarina, we might be able to take her together. If she's got servants or the Beldam with her … then we'll think of something. And if we get a chance to get the souls and run, then we take it. Any questions?"
"Yeah. Has anyone calculated our odds of success for this?" said Wybie.
"I'll rephrase that. Any productive questions?"
"Yes. Should we make our peace with God now or later?" asked Maria with a faint smile.
"I hate you both. Let's just get moving."
In the north of Chicago, the world's largest commercial centre rises from a paved riverbank, overlooking a shimmering expanse of the Chicago River. It never closes, it is always lit. Floodlights mark it out during the night, making it stand out against darkness on all sides.
The building, the Merchandise Mart, covers two full city blocks and rises three hundred and forty feet into the air. Its sides are studded with thousands of windows, its roof is chamfered and pavilioned with bronze, and throughout its innards run dozens of miles of plumbing, hundreds of miles of wiring, and thousands of tons of bricks and steel.
Avarice and ambition and the sinews of finance are as integral to its construction as bricks and concrete; trade fairs and show rooms and businesses run constantly within it. Retail shopping offers half the world for sale, and the quality stores offer the other half. The free market made the Merch Mart, and the free market keeps it for its own.
So influential and widely used is the building that it benefits from its own train station, built atop older rails and an older station. What once carried people and goods and coal and lumber now carries quality consumables, businessmen, and empty promises dressed up with gilt and silver.
It's a significant railway. Few know just how significant.
Coraline and Wybie and Maria entered the Merch Mart through the front door. Their weapons and torches were hidden in Maria's bag, which was fastened shut with little clips along the top. They attracted a few stares; it was a school day after all. But for the most part, they went unnoticed amongst the noise and clamour. People thronged in the Merch Mart, scores of employees contending for hundreds of customers. The ceiling rose all the way to the uppermost floor, and the balconeys and walkways above likewise teemed with activity. The place in this one location flourished, and there were many more doors leading off to many other sections of the building.
"You take the lead. You know the way," Coraline said to Maria. They wove their way through the crowded entrance hall, and exited down one of the side corridors, which was lined with wooden doors. They walked abreast, with Coraline in the centre.
"We came in through a different entrance when I came with the class," said Maria, worried. "I could try and get some rough bearings, but..." They rounded another corner in the corridor and walked down an identical stretch of shining linoleum floor, brick walls, and overhead lights.
"You kids lost?"
The voice came from a tan-shirted security guard standing in the corridor, who watched them coming with seemingly-sleepy eyes. His round belly strained at his uniform, and his moustache looked as though it had been swiped from a walrus. He ambled forward, projecting an air of reasonable authority.
"I'll handle this," whispered Wybie quickly, and walked forward before Coraline could protest.
"Yes, sir, we're a little lost," he said brightly, fixing the guard with a wide, slightly unnerving smile. "You see, we're here for a school project. We're trying to find our way to the ..."
"Train station," supplied Maria quietly.
"Train station, yeah. It's for … public transport and that."
"It's about the history of each service, and what role they play in the city today. We've already been to O'Hara Airport, spoken to cab drivers, and been to the waterfront," interjected Coraline quickly, adding some little believable details. "We're here with my dad, he's just waiting in the shopping centre until we're finished."
"It's O'Hare, not O'Hara," whispered Maria.
"Whichever."
The guard hesitated. But the Hispanic girl came across as the shy, bookish sort, rather than a rabble rouser. The blue-haired kid seemed to know what they were talking about, and he supposed that bag they were carrying contained papers and such. Besides, the kid in the fireman's coat had a terrifying smile, which he didn't want levelled at him for much longer.
"You just take the next junction to your right, and keep on walking until you see signs pointing to the station. If anyone else stops you, just tell them Luther vetted you."
"Sure will, sir. Thank you," said Wybie, his smile widening slightly. It wasn't a sight which did Luther's heart condition any good.
"No problem. You know, if you wanted some extra credit from your teacher, you could talk a little more about the station's history," he said quickly. "The Mart ain't always been the building on the site. It was built in 1930, on the remains of a previous station that had been closed around 1911. They just took the line that had been there, and linked it up with the Mart's shiny new freight station." The guard walked past them, and Wybie and Maria made to move in the direction he had indicated.
"You say there was a previous station?" said Coraline carefully, remembering her conversation with the cats. The guard turned and studied her.
"Yeah, built by the Galena and Chicago Railroad Union near the river. Wells Street Station. You kids don't go wandering now."